


That One Stereotypical Mer Fic

by Monstacatz



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Angels are mermaids, M/M, Mermaids, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Sam and Dean are moreso Men of Letters than hunters, Tags to be updated as this goes on, they collect magical artifacts
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-29
Updated: 2018-12-30
Packaged: 2019-09-29 23:29:59
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17212877
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Monstacatz/pseuds/Monstacatz
Summary: Sam and Dean make the mistake of crossing the wrong family during a hunt for an object and Sam becomes familiar with the bottom of a lake and the snarky merman that is trapped in it.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I'm back from the dead. Sorta.   
> Anyway, I wanted to post this for feedback to see if its worth continuing so comments are welcomed and appreciated!

Gabriel was swimming slowly and languidly near the surface of the water where the sun warmed the slight waves, golden tail moving only ever so slightly to propel him along as it reflected the sunlight.

His eyes were closed and he was thinking of nothing in particular until a splash sounded a few hundred yards away from him and he opened one eye in curiosity. 

He twisted around so that he wasn’t looking at the world upside down and spotted a boat’s hull near the direction of the loud sound. 

Strange, he didn’t remember hearing that engine before. It wasn’t often people visited his lake either; he liked to think he had that under control when he sent tourists running screaming away from the place when he filled their minds with images of giant piranhas and snakes on the shores with a snap of his fingers.

He squinted as he spotted a figure in the water next to the boat. Even if the occasional boat came here, the people never got into the water following the reports of the ‘chemical spill’ he had created using the overactive imagination of a nature documentarian.

He flicked his fins and swan closer to the boat, going deeper so as not to be spotted in the clear water. 

The watercraft was floating over the deepest part of the lake, and with a jolt, Gabriel realized that the human in the water wasn’t taking a nice midday swim. Someone had thrown them overboard.

His sharp eyes focused as he got close enough to make out the figure properly and he caught sight of the brick that was quickly dragging said human down towards the silty bottom of his lake.

He could see that it was a male now, and he wasn’t struggling so Gabriel assumed that the gash on his forehead that was slowly leaking blood had knocked him out prior to his dip in the water. 

The boat engine started up with a roar and it sped away as fast as it had appeared. 

Gabriel rolled his eyes and thought over his options. 

He could save the human and risk being a total cliche merperson, or he could let him die and not have to make any effort for the species that hunted his own into hiding. But then he would have a dead body polluting his waters as it rotted. If he dragged his body to shore it would attract scavengers and he wasn’t a fan of those either.

With a sigh that released a stream of bubbles and another eye roll that was more directed towards himself than anyone else, he swished his tail powerfully and was beside the drowning man in seconds.

He huffed and pulled a sharp rock out from the woven reed belt around his waist. He checked for a pulse and, having found a weak one, moved to saw through the rope that anchored the man to the cinderblock dragging him down.

Immediately he started to ascend towards the surface again and Gabriel swam up behind him and looped his arms around his torso, pushing them upwards to break into the air in a few quick strokes. 

He brought him to a secluded spot on the far side of the lake to the old docks where the boat must have headed and pushed him out into the shallows, absolutely drawing the line with being the first thing he saw when he dramatically woke up on land coughing up water. This wasn’t the goddamn Little Mermaid, and he did have some sense of dignity. 

He retreated to hide in some reeds at the water’s edge, wanting to at least see that the man would wake up and make his way far away from his lake. 

After five minutes of waiting impatiently, Gabriel realized that he just might have to be that cliche if he ever wanted to get rid of this inconvenient two-legged creature.

He grumbled to himself as he hoisted himself out of the water and onto the sandy shore, dragging his tail as little as possible. Getting sand in his scales was just the cherry on top of this irritating experience.

Just as he was about to reach out and check for a pulse again, fearing that the guy had died and he’d have scavengers on his hands, after all, the man’s chest heaved and he gasped loudly. He sat bolt upright and his eyes snapped open. 

His hands came up to tangle in his hair and he spat out a mouthful of water, a shocked expression on his face like he wasn’t quite sure if he was dead or alive.

‘Crap.’ Gabriel muttered. This is what he got for trying to do something nice. He hadn’t been seen by a human since their kind declared a permanent open season on his centuries ago.

The man’s hazel eyes widened in surprise as he took in Gabriel’s appearance, long golden tail trailing out of the water and all. 

“You-you're a-’ Gabriel snapped his fingers and cut off his voice, effectively muting him. The human frowned at him and he found himself laughing at the angry confusion on his face. 

‘Listen kiddo, I pulled you out of that lake,’ He jabbed his thumb over his shoulder to showcase the calm waters. ‘And I could throw you back in just as easily. So don’t piss me off. And, spoiler alert: any of the usual ‘in awe of the mer’ crap, pisses me off.’ 

The man nodded slowly and Gabriel released his hold on his voice. 

‘So, what’s your name, two-legs? Or will I have to keep coming up with more and more convoluted ways of referring to you?’ 

He smiled at that and Gabriel saw the dimples that dented his cheeks. ‘Sam. Sam Winchester. And you are?’ Bold move, but Gabriel liked that, he wasn’t afraid of him. Even though he should have been.

‘Gabriel.’ He replied, shortly but not entirely unkindly. There was no reason to give him any more information.

While Sam turned his name over in his head, Gabriel sneaked a proper look at the human. He had long hair that fell to his shoulders but, considering it was dripping wet, Gabriel couldn’t really make an accurate guess at its color. His skin was lightly tanned and he had pretty hazel eyes that even from their short interaction Gabriel could tell were very expressive. Sam Winchester was pretty attractive overall, with the build of an athlete or at the very least someone involved in a lot of physical activity, and not to mention those damn dimples.

‘What am I doing here?’ Gabriel frowned at him curiously, maybe that gash on his forehead had done more than just render him unconscious.

‘Last I checked? You were being tossed overboard with what seemed like full intentions of being drowned.’ 

Recognition dawned on Sam’s face and he looked down at himself, patting at his soaked clothes frantically. 

‘Crap, then this means this is the toxic lake, how long was I-’ Gabriel shushed his worried voice and flicked his tail lazily to splash him with water, to which he looked affronted and impossibly more afraid.

‘Calm down, it’s perfectly safe. Remember that little trick I did where I stole your voice? Let’s just say I can protect myself here, and how better to do that than to plant my ideas in the fragile human mind?’ He smirked in a self-satisfied way and laughed at Sam’s incredulous face. He really was an expressive person.

‘So you mean- this whole time this lake has been completely safe?’ The human spluttered.

‘Yup.’ Gabriel grinned, popping the p. He could see the man bursting with more questions to ask, but he had a few of his own. And the way he saw it, his took priority.

‘How did you end up here?’ They both said at the same time, though Gabriel sounded bored and Sam a little excited.

Gabriel pointed at Sam. ‘You first.’

‘It’s not entirely my fault.’ Sam started, ‘My brother and I, we uh, we have this business and while I was busy closing a deal my brother took on another one that went...wrong. Let's just say he was messing with some very dangerous people. Long story short, they used me as a bargaining chip to get back what they wanted from him.’

‘Not a great bargaining chip if you’re dead.’ Gabriel replied, gesturing to the lake. ‘A ‘chemical spill’ might not have killed you but a cinder block around the ankles and a bout of unconsciousness certainly would have.’

Sam cocked his head to the side and looked at Gabriel oddly. ‘You...saved me, then.’

Gabriel squirmed and wrinkled his nose. ‘Only cause I didn’t want your rotting corpse to ruin my water.’

Sam laughed and brought his knees up to his chest. ‘I was saved from drowning by a mermaid. How cliche can it get?’

‘Hey!’ Gabriel snapped. ‘I’m a merman.’ But Sam was too busy raking his hands through his wet hair and his laughter was turning a little...delirious. 

Oh god. Gabriel was going to have to distract him from his breakdown long enough to send him on his way.

He sighed and scooted further out of the water, close enough to tap the human’s ankle to get his attention. ‘What did your brother do to get you such a harsh punishment?’ 

It wasn’t that he cared, per se, but listening to the cliff-notes version of Sam’s story had kind of been the most interesting thing he’d heard since he’d been put in this lake.

Sam stopped laughing and turned his attention back to Gabriel. He looked suspicious now. ‘Why does that matter?’

Gabriel stuck his hands up in surrender. ‘It doesn’t, really. One just tends to get bored when trapped in a lake all alone.’ He was so not above playing the pity card to get a good story out of the human.

Sam glared at him, but a quick review of his surroundings showed he was the only company he’d have for a while, at least until his headache faded and he could face the thought of standing up.

‘He had a run in with a powerful family. He tried to acquire an artifact that one of their sons had found on a dive.’ Sam winced. He knew how it sounded.

‘So he stole something from like, the mafia.’ Gabriel snorted. ‘Makes sense. Who’s the family?’

Sam gave him the side-eye. ‘The Morningstars.’

Gabriel turned so fast that his tail flicked a miniature tidal wave onto the shore. ‘Like, Lucifer Morningstar?!’ 

Sam nodded, backing up a little at the rage he saw flit across the mer’s face. He was leaning up on his hands now, stomach to the sand, and Sam would have been distracted by the way his scales were shining in the sun had his tail not been angrily slapping the surface of the water like an angry human tapping his foot.

‘What did he take?’ Gabriel asked, eyes snapping up to meet Sam’s.

‘Uh, some kind of necklace or something? I wasn’t there.’ 

Gabriel groaned. ‘Silver chain, pretty seashell?’ 

Sam nodded. ‘How did you know that?’ 

‘Because Lucifer Morningstar is the bastard that trapped me here. And...he’s also my brother.’ Something dawned on Gabriel and he dropped from his hands down to his elbows, catching his head in his hands as he groaned again. This did not bode well. 

‘And if he had you dropped off here he knew exactly what he was doing.’ 

‘What do you mean?’

‘I mean, that now you’re probably stuck here too.’

Sam shrugged. ‘Better than being dead, I guess.’ 

Gabriel pushed himself back up and gaped at him. ‘Better than being dead’ Hah! Sure thing kiddo. You won’t be saying that when you’re going mad in a weeks time. This place is barren and boring and lonely.’ 

Sam just looked at him. ‘Look on the bright side! At least my corpse isn’t ‘ruining your water’.’ Gabriel huffed and curled his tail up so he could sit in a more comfortable position, facing the human. 

He took another look at him now that he was drying off. It could be worse, at least he was pretty. Although that cut above his eyebrow was kind of unsightly. 

Gabriel reached into a pocket on his belt and tugged out an old facecloth. He wrung it out and handed it to Sam.

‘Here.’ He nodded towards the cut. ‘Clean yourself up and I’ll show you the old boathouse.’   
He may not like humans very much, but this one was stuck here through no fault of his own because of his brother, and at least he could relate to that.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops...  
> Okay forgive me if this is bad, it's really late at night (5:30 am) and I wanted to get as much done before I had to sleep. I'll come back and fix any mistakes when I wake up.   
> If you see any glaring errors that I should address immediately please leave a comment, my only beta is Grammarly.

Sam was confused when Gabriel had handed him the cloth. The man went from being angry at being ‘stuck’ with him there one moment, to being concerned about a gash on his face and offering him a tour the next. 

He shrugged it off and felt around his face for the damage. He should probably have been worried that he was cold enough from the water to not even feel the pain from what must have been the knockout blow. In fact, when he thought about it he could hardly even feel his own hands.

Maybe getting to that boathouse Gabriel had mentioned would be a good idea. He tossed the cloth back to him and gestured around him. ‘Not to throw away your gesture of goodwill or anything but if I stay out here any longer I think you’ll have my dead body on your shores anyway, popsicle-style.’

With a glance, Gabriel noticed that Sam was, in fact, cold enough to be shivering. 

He pushed himself off the shore and back into the water and waited.

‘You’re not seriously expecting me to get back in there are you?’ Sam asked incredulously.

Gabriel shrugged. ‘There’s no other way to get to the boathouse without going through some form of water. There was a bridge over one of the estuaries that feed into this lake but it’s rotted away.’

Sam groaned and hauled himself up from the ground. He wished he’d drowned. Wearily he joined Gabriel in the water, teeth chattering and a scowl on his face.

‘H-how far is it?’ Sam gritted out. 

Gabriel pointed out past a clump of trees. ‘Around that bend there. You better hope you can swim it cause I am not saving your ass from drowning twice in one day.’

Sam grumbled at him and stepped further into the water before pushing off. 

Gabriel would have raced ahead of him if he wasn’t actually afraid of the tired human drowning. Instead, he ducked down underneath the water and swam a good few feet below Sam, keeping pace.

When he actually started struggling to stay afloat Gabriel broke the surface next to him with a roll of his eyes. He got a good laugh when his tail brushed against Sam’s legs and the human gasped, and that almost made up for him having to go back on his word. 

‘C’mon, put your arm around me.’ He instructed. ‘We’re almost there.’ 

‘No we aren’t.’ Sam complained, but he obliged and let the merman help him. Needless to say, they got there about ten times faster.

Gabriel swam them up to the old boathouse and made a face. It was worse than he remembered, but there wasn’t anything he could do. Nothing else around the lake offered any better shelter, and he didn’t think Sam would last much longer anyway. He had started shivering again next to him the water due to the lack of having to make any effort.

Gabriel reached what looked like the least rotten pier that jutted out of the place and shook Sam into action. 

Sam raised his head and eyed the wooden structure critically. After a few seconds, he obviously decided it was worth risking injury to get out of the water again and climbed up. 

He breathed out a sigh of relief and crossed his arms, rubbing up and down to try and get some warmth back into him. ‘Thanks again, y’know for helping me out.’ 

Gabriel wrinkled his nose and flicked some water at him. ‘Don’t mention it. No really. I don’t wanna think about how much I’ve betrayed my own kind in one day.’ 

Sam didn’t get a chance to ask for clarification because Gabriel was gone when he looked down.

He pushed down his mild sense of panic at the abandonment and turned to face the building behind him. He knew he needed to find a way in and check the place out before it got dark.

He followed the rest of the pier back to the outer wall of the building and held onto the edge of the wall, peering into the channel that the boats used to be stored in. It looked pretty deep and he was not hopping in again just to get inside the building. 

That said, he almost fell in when Gabriel’s head popped up in the middle of the channel. The merman just laughed at him and held up part of a long wooden plank he’d found somewhere in the lake. 

When Sam’s heart had regained its normal pace he pointed at the thing. ‘What’s that for?

Gabriel passed one end up to him and kept hold of the other. ‘We’re gonna use it as a bridge.’ He pointed to a door in the side of the building that was two piers down. He could see Sam looking doubtful. ‘Unless you want to come back in the water.’ 

He shook his head quickly and held his end steady on the edge of his pier while Gabriel reached up and placed his end on the next one, after testing some of his weight on it. 

‘Now let's see how good your balance is.’ He teased.

Sam scowled and inched his way across the board without incident. He was careful with his footing on the other pier though, because some parts of it looked like they were one wrong step away from dissolving.

They repeated the bridging technique between the next two piers and finally, Sam was standing in front of the old door. With his luck today, it was going to be locked.

He seriously hoped it wasn’t because the wind was picking up and he was shivering so badly at that point that he had almost fallen in halfway across the second board.

When he tried it though it thankfully gave way with some creaking and a shove from his shoulder. 

He sighed in relief as he stepped inside. He already felt warmer just from the lack of breeze. He closed the door over and tested the boards underneath him before slumping down against the wall and shutting his eyes. 

A splash and a curse told him that Gabriel had joined him inside via the channel and he opened his eyes again with great effort to see what was wrong. 

‘Gabriel? What's up?’ It sounded like he was muttering ‘stupid fucking boat’ before he disappeared from sight again.

He resurfaced a few seconds later at the ladder that led up from the channel and pulled himself up and out of the water, tail and all. 

Sam gaped at him in awe for a second before he noticed something wasn’t right. Gabriel’s face was twisted into a grimace and he had a hand pressed on the side of his tail that faced away from Sam.

Sam immediately got up and crossed the room to the other side of him. ‘What happened? Are you okay?’ He crouched down on his injured side but didn’t get too close.

Gabriel hissed and leaned away from him. ‘I’m fine. I just snagged myself on something when I came in. There’s a boat down there with bits sticking out.’ He flicked his fin towards the channel in disgust.

‘Okay, can I take a look?’ 

Gabriel wanted to yell at him, tell him to piss off and leave him alone because this was all his fault, but it wasn’t. It was Lucifer’s. So he nodded defeatedly instead and dropped his hand.

Sam smiled at him reassuringly and leaned in closer. The wound was a few inches long and there was a lot less blood than he’d expected. There were a few more minor scratches on his tail, and some on his back and side that were bleeding more freely. 

‘Okay, it’s not so bad, do you have that cloth from earlier?’ Gabriel nodded and retrieved it, but didn’t hand it over. 

‘I can clean it myself.’ 

‘That one sure, but what about the ones on your back?’ 

Gabriel frowned and reached a hand behind himself, surprised when it came away with blood on it. ‘Oh.’ He handed over the cloth. ‘Fine.’

Sam took it and sat down behind him, cross-legged. Gabriel hissed at him whenever he had to remove a splinter or pressed too hard but he was done pretty quickly. 

When he was done Sam wrung the cloth out in the water and handed it back to him. ‘All done. Too bad there’s nothing to stitch that up though.’ He pointed to the gash in Gabriel’s tail, then paused. ‘Although I’m not actually sure a needle would be able to get through those scales of yours.’

Gabriel shuddered at the thought and Sam laughed. ‘Not a fan of needles?’

‘Is anyone?’

‘Fair enough.’ Sam looked down at the water, seemingly lost in thought for a minute.

‘I’m sorry you got hurt. I know you didn’t necessarily want to help me in the first place, but now you really must regret cutting me loose.’ He laughed

Gabriel frowned at him and dipped his fin back into the water to splash him. Sam spluttered and wiped water from his eyes. ‘Are you just gonna do that every time I piss you off?’ Gabriel shrugged and nodded.

‘Listen I don’t...regret it. I never wanted you dead, I just have a lot of personal reasons to be wary around humans. But wariness and willful ignorance when someone’s gonna die are very different things.’

Sam just nodded, he didn’t want to make things hostile by prying into his personal reasons. ‘Thank you.’

Gabriel smiled tiredly at him. ‘For the record, you’re not the worst human I’ve met. I may even be able to tolerate being stuck here indefinitely with you.’

Sam grinned at him. ‘You’re not so bad yourself.’ 

He looked like he was about to pass out any minute, so Gabriel grabbed the washcloth and gestured towards the human’s own injury. Sam nodded and let Gabriel dab at the wound, only wincing a little as the dried blood came away. 

When he was satisfied Gabriel pushed Sam away gently and motioned to a dusty sheet in the corner of the room. ‘Grab that, it can get cold at night.’

Sam did grab it, and shaking it out too close to the other man earned him another splash to the face of cold water. 

Eventually, he settled down a few feet away from Gabriel, next to some old fishing nets and coils of rope. 

Gabriel watched him settle and then carefully lowered himself back down into the water, aware of the underwater dangers this time.

‘Where are you going?’ Sam asked. 

‘Relax kiddo, I’m just checking if the other channel has any debris.’ Sam felt stupid. It wasn’t like he had any obligation to stay with him anyway.

Sure enough a couple minutes later the merman’s head popped up again on the other side and he gave Sam a thumbs up sign. All clear.

‘Guess I’ll stay here for tonight as well.’ Gabriel conceded. The look of panic on the human’s face when he’d thought Gabriel was leaving had made him feel guilty. He’d meant it when he’d said Sam wasn’t the worst human he’d come across. 

He waved goodnight and sank below the surface of the water, resolving to be a little nicer tomorrow. He obviously hadn't made the best first impression if Sam thought he'd actually leave him alone in this craphole. 

After all, they were stuck with each other for the time being, no point making it awkward.


End file.
